Hitler salute? Olympic Stadium removes statue | Inland

The board of the stadium has been researching the statue, which has been there since 1928, for more than a year. Then the Olympics were held.

However, it has nothing to do with the Nazis. But just as doubtful is the story that the congregation always had, namely that an “old Roman greeting” was portrayed. That explanation was even on a sign. “But that’s a myth,” director Ellen van Haaren now concludes.

The founder of the Olympic Games, Baron de Coubertin, introduced the gesture made by the bronze athlete in 1924 at the Paris Games. The gesture has thus become known as the Olympic salute. But at the same time, the fascists in Italy were emerging.

Although the statue was not made maliciously, the stadium knows enough. “You have to keep two lines well separated from each other. You have the historical fact that the greeting dates from a fascist era, and you also have the intention of the maker of the image to express the so-called sporty greeting from 1924 ”, says Van Haaren in Trouw.

There is therefore no direct link between fascism and the image, but “once you have established that the salute itself can be traced back directly to fascism, you must take action,” said the director. The sculpture is given a new place, indoors.

–